What It's Like To Be A Movie Star

Suck It, Velvet Rope: James McAvoy Takes Us Behind The Scenes Of The Movie Biz

McAvoy doesn’t want you to think he’s complaining about his travel duties. It’s what he calls “champagne problems.”

Long before he made out with Angelina Jolie in Wanted, James McAvoy thought about being a Catholic priest.

“Priest or Catholic missionary,” McAvoy clarifies. “Really, I just wanted to travel the world. I thought being a missionary would give me access to cool, exotic, exciting adventures and locations.”

“But I started to get lucky with girls for the very first time about the age of 16. That kind of screwed my fledgling ideas of being a missionary.”

No big loss. As an actor who has his feet in both indie gems and big budget blockbusters, McAvoy gets to travel plenty — perhaps way more than he bargained for.

We’re talking to him while he’s in New York promoting Filth, a black comedy adapted from Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh’s novel. A couple days before, he was in Cannes, premiering the drama The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby alongside costar Jessica Chastain. For about a month before that, he was zipping back and forth across the globe, promoting X-Men: Days of Future Past, where he reprises his role as Professor Xavier (check out his take on the roles here).

“I’ve been to too many places,” says McAvoy. “This is the most amount of press I’ve ever done in my life.”

The grueling itinerary forced McAvoy to develop his own regimen to fight off jet lag: Every time he lands, he goes for a long jog to adjust.

“It says to your body, don’t accept the reality of it,” McAvoy says, recommending the workout for every man in his shoes. “Half of it is psychological and half of it is the physical reaction to crossing time zones. Say to the psychological part of jet lag, 'I’m not having that.' It diminishes the effects of jet lag.”

McAvoy doesn’t want you to think he’s complaining about his travel duties. It’s what he calls “champagne problems.”

“I’ve landed on my feet,” he says about a career that takes him everywhere, as he always intended. “You can go places as a tourist and its great fun. If you go somewhere and work, you get a different kind of experience. You get to know people better and you get to know how the country works. It’s been fascinating getting that level of access.”

At 35, McAvoy has achieved the kind of stability that most men plan for but few achieve. He’s got a wife, child and dream job. But he also realizes that the last part could evaporate at any moment, just as soon as you are sick of seeing him.

“I hope I’ll keep acting,” says McAvoy, with pause. “I don’t think many actors ever think, ‘That’s it. I’m set. I’ll never stop working and the industry will always have a place for me.’ I’m comfortable with that level of hanging doubt. I think no matter what happens, whether acting stops tomorrow or not, I’m going to be alright.”

“I feel pretty secure in myself, if not in my career. I know I’m going to be a dad for a good few years. I know I’m going to be a husband. I’m happy with that.”